OPTIMASI LAMA PERENDAMAN JAGUNG UNTUK PREPARASI PEMASAKAN DALAM OTOKLAF DAN PENGGORENGAN

Abstract

Corn seed had a hard structure that made it difficult to be softened by soaking. Treatment combination of soaking and cooking with high pressure were needed to obtain processed corn (i.e. fried corn) with crunchy texture and high acceptability. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effect of soaking time on corn moisture content and to determine optimum moisture content of corn that resulted fried corn with crunchy texture and high acceptability. The research was conducted with variation of soaking time of : 12, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours. The soaked corn seeds were cooked in autoclave at temperature of 125oC, with high pressure of 1,5 atm, during 30-60 minutes. Furthermore, soaked corn seed was fried at a temperature of 200 - 220oC for 5 minutes.The moisture content of soaked corn, cooked corn and fried corn were analysis . texture of fried corns were determined by Lloyd Instrument Testing Mechine and acceptable fried corn was determined by hedonic test. The result showed that moisture content of soaked corn affected the texture and acceptability of fried corn. The low or too high of corn moisture content resulted fried corn with hard texture and low preferences. The optimum moisture content of corn seed before cooked in the autoclave that resulted high acceptability product was that moisture content between 39.57-40.86% or with soaking time of 24 to 74 hours. Keywords: corn seed, soaking time, moisture content, texture.